Iron Age Cremation Burials in South- Eastern and West Estonia
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TALLINNA ÜLIKOOL HUMANITAARTEADUSTE DISSERTATSIOONID TALLINN UNIVERSITY DISSERTATIONS ON HUMANITIES 37 1 2 RAILI ALLMÄE IRON AGE CREMATION BURIALS IN SOUTH- EASTERN AND WEST ESTONIA. AN OSTEOLOGICAL APPROACH Tallinn 2017 3 TALLINNA ÜLIKOOL HUMANITAARTEADUSTE DISSERTATSIOONID TALLINN UNIVERSITY DISSERTATIONS ON HUMANITIES 37 Raili Allmäe IRON AGE CREMATION BURIALS IN SOUTH-EASTERN AND WEST ESTONIA. AN OSTEOLOGICAL APPROACH Institute of Humanities, Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia The dissertation was accepted for the defence of the degree of Doctor Philosphiae in History by the Doctoral Studies Council of Humanities of Tallinn University on April 18th, 2017. Supervisors: Marika Mägi, Senior Researcher at Tallinn University Leiu Heapost, PhD Opponents: Gunita Zarina, Senior Researcher at Latvian University Laurynas Kurila, Researcher at Lithuanian Institute of History The defence will take place on June 19th, 2017 at 16 o’clock at Tallinn University lecture hall M-649, Uus-Sadama st 5, Tallinn. This research was supported by the European Social Fund’s Doctoral Studies and Internationalisation Programme DoRa and by the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research, targeted financing no. SF0042476s03 and SF0130012s08. Also by Estonian Science Foundation grants ETF5973 and ETF6899. Copyright: Raili Allmäe, 2017 Copyright: Tallinn University, 2017 ISSN 1736-5031(pdf) ISBN 978-9949-29-330-8(pdf) Tallinn University Narva Rd 25 10120 Tallinn www.tlu.ee 4 CONTENTS LIST OF PUBLICATIONS ..................................................................................................... 7 ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................ 9 PREFACE ............................................................................................................................. 10 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................. 11 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 12 The study of cremated human remains in Northern Europe ............................................. 13 The osteological research on cremated human remains in Estonia ................................... 17 The history of palaeodemographic investigations in Estonia ............................................ 19 AIMS ..................................................................................................................................... 22 1. MATERIAL ...................................................................................................................... 23 1.1. West Estonia .............................................................................................................. 23 1.2. South-eastern Estonia ................................................................................................ 25 2. METHODS........................................................................................................................ 27 2.1. Relationship between bone finds and number of burials ........................................... 27 2.2. Estimating minimum and probable number of buried individuals ............................. 27 2.2.1. West Estonian graves ......................................................................................... 27 2.2.2. South-eastern Estonian graves ............................................................................ 28 2.3. Proportion of determinable cremated bone units in grave ......................................... 29 2.4. Colouration of cremated bones as an indicator of cremation temperature ................. 29 2.5. The fracture pattern of cremated bones ...................................................................... 30 2.6. Fragmentation stage of the cremains ......................................................................... 31 2.7. Assessment of sex and age at death ........................................................................... 31 2.8. Demographic estimations........................................................................................... 32 2.9. Radiocarbon dating of bone ....................................................................................... 34 2.9.1. Radiocarbon dating of cremation burials ............................................................ 34 2.9.2. Radiocarbon dating of inhumation burials ......................................................... 34 2.10. Statistical analysis .................................................................................................... 35 3. RESULTS.......................................................................................................................... 36 3.1. Cremated bone material ............................................................................................. 36 3.1.1. Radiocarbon dates .............................................................................................. 36 3.1.2. The fragmentation of cremated bones and proportion of determined bone units in graves as an indicator of burial practice ........................................................ 36 3.1.3. The colouration of cremated bones as an indicator of pyre temperature ............ 40 3.1.4. Character of cremated bone material and its relation to burial practice ............. 41 3.2. Demographic figures and community size ................................................................. 42 3.2.1. Number of burials, biological sex and age at death assessments ........................ 42 3.2.2. Radiocarbon dates and time-span of grave usage ............................................... 44 3.2.3. Demographic figures: mortality, fertility and community size ........................... 46 3.3. Temporal and cultural differences in middle and late Iron Age west Estonian and south-eastern Estonian burial customs ....................................................................... 50 3.3.1. The grave types, dates and burial practice .......................................................... 50 3.3.2. The influence of the funeral pyre on human remains ......................................... 51 3.3.3. Other agents responsible for bone fragmentation in recovered cremation burial deposits .............................................................................................................. 52 5 3.3.4. The character of cremated bones and burial customs in Iron Age Estonia ......... 54 3.3.5. Pyre sites ............................................................................................................ 58 3.3.6. Cemetery and community size ........................................................................... 59 3.3.7. Burial customs for children and infants .............................................................. 60 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................... 65 REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................... 68 Appendix 1. Table 6. Community size calculations. Models ........................................... 81 Appendix 2. Measurements of cremated bone fragments. Tables 7.1.-7.2. ...................... 82 Appendix 3. Lifetables non-corrected. Tables 8.1.-8.6. .................................................... 83 Appendix 4. Life tables corrected after Rösing and Jankauskas (1997). Tables 9.1.-9.6. ... 85 Appendix 5. Poanse demographic calculations. Tables 10.1.-10.4 ................................... 87 PUBLICATIONS .................................................................................................................. 89 I. Some remarks on Kaseküla stone-cist grave, Läänemaa, Estonia ................................. 91 II. Siksälä Kirikumägi: evidence of a new grave form of South-Eastern Estonia? ......... 101 III. Observations on Estonian Iron Age cremations ........................................................ 119 IV. The demography of Iron Age graves in Estonia ....................................................... 139 KOKKUVÕTE .................................................................................................................... 157 ELULOOKIRJELDUS ........................................................................................................ 160 CURRICULUM VITAE ..................................................................................................... 160 6 LIST OF PUBLICATIONS This dissertation is based on four publications, which are referred to in the analytical overview by Roman numerals. I. Allmäe, R. (2010). Some remarks on Kaseküla stone-cist grave, Läänemaa, Estonia. Fennoscandia Archaeologica, XXVII, 45–52. II. Valk, H., Allmäe, R. (2010). Siksälä Kirikumägi: evidence of a new grave form of South-Eastern Estonia? Estonian Journal of Archaeology, 14(1), 40–55. III. Allmäe, R. (2013). Observations on Estonian Iron Age cremations. Archaeologia Baltica, 19, 31–47. IV. Allmäe, R. (2014). The demography of Iron Age graves in Estonia. Lietuvos Archeologija, 40, 103–120. The author’s responsibility for publication II was analysis of the osteological material and drawing conclusions based on cremated human remains, the preparation and writing of publication II was shared with the co-author. List of other related publications Mägi, M., Allmäe, R., Maldre, L. (1998). Viking Age graveyard